Category: Blog

When most people think of massage therapy, they think about something that is reserved for luxurious vacations or a pampering day at the spa. What you might not think about is how beneficial massage can be for many people in their everyday life, especially those who are managing chronic pain. Today many people take part in massage—and not just the spa treatment variety—to help with chronic pain. Massage may not necessarily take the place of other more traditional medical treatment options, but it can be beneficial to add to an overall pain management plan. Here’s why.

Serotonin Release

During massage, your body will release serotonin, a chemical found in the human body that is used as a neurotransmitter and is thought to be a natural anti-pain chemical. It also doesn’t come with the risks or side effects that some over-the-counter medications or prescription opioid pain relief can cause.

Deep, Restorative Sleep

A favorite saying of many doctors is that “sleep is medicine”. Getting enough sleep has tons of benefits for your body, ranging from feeling better and being more alert to regulating appetite and even reducing pain. Even if you are in bed for several hours each night, that doesn’t necessarily mean you are getting the type of sleep your body needs to heal. A lack of deep, restorative sleep (often called REM, or rapid eye movement sleep) might be aggravating your pain or preventing your body from feeling better. Massage can help you relax, helping to increase your body’s ability to get deep sleep.

Improved Fitness and Physical Function

Studies in two groups of people with the chronic pain conditions fibromyalgia and arthritis showed that massage therapy helped improve pain, reduce stiffness, and increase the physical function of those who received it on a regular basis—as evidenced by their ability to walk a distance of 50 feet in a shorter time period and while reporting less pain. Arthritis sufferers also reported that they had better grip strength and lower instances of anxiety and depression when participating in regular massage.

Reduced Anxiety and Improved Mood

The relaxation that you can achieve with massage can also help reduce anxiety and depression, conditions often associated with chronic pain. In fact, in studies conducted by the American Massage Therapy Association, patients rated massage just as high or higher than medications for its ability to provide pain relief.

Massage therapy is beneficial as part of a whole-body approach to pain management. Studies have shown it to be highly effective in helping manage chronic pain associated with arthritis, diabetes, fibromyalgia, and other similar conditions. The great news is that you don’t even have to schedule long blocks of time for your massages—many patients see benefits with as little as one to two 20-minute massages each week.

To find out more about how massage can help with your chronic pain and how it can be incorporated with other treatments from your chiropractor, visit Apollo Chiropractor today or see other areas that we serve in Salt Lake City, Murray, Holladay and Midvale.

Car accidents are frighteningly common in the U.S.—someone is injured in this type of accident about every 10 seconds, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)—and while they are not always fatal, someone who has been in an accident might suffer the consequences of one of these long-term injuries if they fail to get the right kind of care and help following the accident.

Head, Back & Neck Injury

Injuries to the head, back and neck are some of the most common injuries that people suffer after a car accident. In fact, about 80 percent of people involved in an accident report having whiplash (damage to the muscles, nerves, joints, ligaments, and discs in the neck), causing symptoms like headaches, dizziness, and pain. While these symptoms might go away over time, more serious and long-lasting injuries can include things like traumatic brain injury (TBI), which can cause physical, motor, behavioral, and cognitive trauma, or back and neck injuries that can lead to pain, muscle spasms, and even spinal cord injury or paralysis.

Lower Extremity Injuries

The hips, knees, and legs are very vulnerable in a car accident, and may hit the dashboard or get crushed when the front or sides of a vehicle collapse. The most common injuries are bruising, fractures, and broken bones, which will generally heal well over time. In more severe cases, though, injuries to the lower extremities can reduce your mobility, making walking, running, and other physical activities difficult, and could even lead to paralysis or partial disability.

Scars or Disfigurement

One injury that you may not think about as much in a car accident is the potential for scars and disfigurement, whether from the initial injuries suffered in the accident or from the medical intervention(s) required after the accident. Although the scars or disfigurement may not cause any lack of ability in the future, they can still be psychologically damaging, and if they are severe or in a place that is normally visible (such as the face or neck) they could interfere with your ability to get a job, and could have an impact on interpersonal relationships as well.

Mental Health Issues

Another “hidden” danger of car accidents is the potential that you might suffer from mental health issues related to driving or traveling in a vehicle. A study by British researchers in 2001 found that one year after an accident, as many as one-third of people involved in non-fatal crashes suffered from conditions such as:

• Post-traumatic stress
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Phobias

These mental health issues are also not exclusive to the driver, the study found. In fact, passengers were more likely to suffer the long-term mental health consequences than the person in the driver’s seat. This stress can impact you at work, cause sleeplessness, and interfere with your relationships, and should be addressed as quickly as possible, especially if you find you are still experiencing them more than two or three months after an accident.

Receiving proper treatment post-accident is essential to your recovery over the long term. Contact Apollo Chiropractic in Salt Lake City, Murray, Holladay or Midvale to know more.

Being involved in an automobile accident can be frightening, and often the shock of the crash is enough to mask some of the more long-term consequences that you and your body might suffer. If you are involved in an accident, getting the right medical attention and care immediately following the crash, and long-term, can make a significant difference in your accident recovery. Here are four potential long-term injuries that many people suffer after accidents.

Back Injuries

The most common types of back injuries that people suffer after being involved in a car accident are either herniated disks or bulging disks. The disks that normally provide support and cushioning between your spinal vertebrate can slip out of place and push against the nerve, or the cartilage can become damaged so the fluids inside the disk bulge and push on the nerve. In some cases you might only feel some slight pain when you initially get in the accident, but the long-term consequences of these injuries can be debilitating if you don’t get it treated.

Neck Injuries

Perhaps the most common neck injury that people suffer when they are involved in an accident is whiplash. This painful condition occurs when your vehicle is suddenly impacted (from behind, from the side, or if you crash into something) and your head snaps back and forth. You might feel some immediate pain in your neck with this injury, or it could take up to several days for the pain to surface. It’s best to see a medical professional if you suspect you might have suffered whiplash so you can get any treatment costs covered by insurance following the accident.

Concussion or TBI

Head injuries are also extremely dangerous, and in many cases you might not even be aware that there is a problem immediately after the accident. The two most common head injuries people suffer when they are in an accident are concussions and traumatic brain injury (TBI). A concussion is a brain injury that requires attention and care to prevent long-term consequences and even death in severe cases. If you suffered a significant brain injury, you could also find that you have TBI, which can impact your life in many different ways. Speaking with a personal injury attorney (after getting proper medical treatment) can help you get the compensation you deserve from the insurance to cover the costs of these injuries.

Lower Extremity Injuries

Another common place people get injured after an accident is in their lower extremities, such as the hips, thighs, knees, and ankles. If your vehicle is involved in a front-end collision, the steering wheel, dashboard, and even parts of the engine can crush your lower legs and hips. In some cases, you might experience such severe damage to these areas that your life will be permanently impacted.

After an Accident

The most important thing following an accident is that you receive proper emergency medical attention and care. Oftentimes your body is filled with adrenaline after an accident, and you may not immediately realize that you are injured. That’s why you should always visit an urgent care center to get checked out by a doctor after a motor vehicle accident.

Some lingering soreness after a car accident is expected; however, if you have pain that lasts for more than a few days, we recommend you make an appointment to come in to see one of our chiropractors.

We can do an evaluation and begin a treatment program to relieve your pain so that you can work, sleep and enjoy life again.

Help Seeking Compensation for Your Accident

Our team also works with your insurance company as well as your personal injury or auto accident attorney to provide the documentation you need, should you decide to take legal action regarding your accident.

While legal action may indeed be a priority in your case, we urge you not to put off medical treatment during this time. Waiting to receive the care that you need can not only affect your quality of life, but it can also make any damage that has been done more difficult — or impossible — to reverse.

Get the recovery that you might need from such accidents. Contact Apollo Chiropractic and get more information about our services and treatments in Salt Lake City, Murray, Holladay and Midvale.

If you have ever strained your neck after a particularly jarring ride at an amusement park, or been involved in an accident and experienced severe neck pain afterward, you have probably felt whiplash, which affects the soft tissues in your neck. It’s important to understand what this injury is, and how to find treatment if you do experience it.

How You Get Whiplash

Whiplash is caused by a sudden and jarring impact that results in an unnatural movement in the overall structure of your neck. Normally your neck has a small natural curve at the top where it connects the upper back to the skull, but when your head suddenly and unexpectedly is thrown backward and forward, it can disrupt the natural curve and cause injury to the joints, muscles, ligaments, and bones in the neck and upper back.

The most common way that people get whiplash is from an auto accident, particularly when you are rear-ended by another vehicle, or when someone hits you head-on.

Common Whiplash Symptoms

The primary symptom that people feel after they experience whiplash is soreness or pain in the upper back and neck. It may begin immediately after the jarring impact (such as the car accident), or it may develop over several hours, days, weeks, or even months. The most common things to look for include:

• Spasms or pain in the neck and upper back muscles
• Pain when you try to move your head
• Concussion symptoms, such as dizziness or fatigue
• Burning or tingling sensations
• Difficulty swallowing or chewing, or hoarseness, which could indicate damage to the esophagus or larynx

Treating Whiplash

If you are ever involved in an accident, it’s important to seek medical treatment for potential injuries right away. In some cases you might be in shock or you may not initially think that you have a neck injury, but getting immediate treatment can help prevent it from getting worse over time and can help you prove that the injury was related to the auto accident, which can help you with insurance claims to cover the costs of whiplash treatment.

Diagnosing whiplash may start with an X-ray, CT, or MRI scan, and treatment can include wearing a soft brace to immobilize the neck while it heals, medications to reduce pain and swelling, chiropractic care that includes spinal manipulation or mobilization, and physical therapy to restore range of motion.

If you think you might have suffered whiplash, or you were recently involved in an auto accident and have some lingering pain and symptoms, contact Apollo Chiropractic today to find out about our whiplash therapy.

‘Shneck pain’ or shoulder and neck pain is certainly a pain in the neck. There’s nothing more annoying and inconvenient than not knowing which is which—where the real pain comes from.

In the many years we’ve been practicing chiropractic care, most of our patients come to us, complaining about shoulder pain, when in reality, they’re suffering neck problems. Still, some go to us and ask for neck pain treatments, when the condition is actually a masked shoulder injury.

There’s a good reason a lot of people experience this ‘mix-up’ of pain, and it is because the neck and shoulder are closely connected by a bundle of nerve pathways. When something happens to your body, the brain is sometimes unable to trace pain pathways and pinpoint the source. This is why what you’re feeling might not actually be where you think it is.

The Culprits for the Shneck Pain

Shneck pain commonly happens when there is damage in the soft tissues, including the ligaments, tendons, and muscles within these structures. Damage usually happens after a whiplash. The sudden jolt in car accidents may cause injury to the ligaments and muscles in the neck and shoulders. It may also trigger muscle spasms in these areas.

Another condition that can cause shneck pain is degenerative arthritis. This health problem can pinch nerves that send pain signals in the neck and shoulders. Shoulder and neck pain may also be a symptom of heart attack. Younger women are more prone to this. Rather than the chest pains typical among patients, they suffer problems in the neck and shoulders, too.

The Combat against the Culprits

It’s easy to mistake one problem for the other. This is why you should seek diagnosis so you can receive proper medical care. While you may certainly get different therapies, we believe that the best treatment for neck and shoulder pains is chiropractic care.

Chiropractic methods don’t just get rid of pain. It gets to the root of the problem. It helps fix stuck joints and removes pinched nerves, and also brings back efficient movement in the affected areas. We strongly recommend consulting us for chiropractic care to treat shneck pain. Our team of chiropractors offer different pain relief therapies that can make the road to recovery more successful.

Here at Apollo Chiropractor, we prioritize your health. If you are in Salt Lake City, Murray, Holladay or Midvale, contact us today so we can get started on tailoring a treatment for your specific needs.

Being involved in a car accident can be a scary situation, and whether you are at fault or not, there is a risk that you could be injured. Sometimes injuries are obvious, such as cuts and scratches from broken glass, but in other situations these injuries are inside your body and may not be visible to the emergency care providers who arrive on the scene. These injuries have the potential to be even more damaging in the long term because you may not realize you have them until well after the accident. Be on the lookout for these three common injuries so you can get proper auto injury treatment.

Neck Injuries

The most common type of neck injury from an accident is whiplash, but these types of injuries can range from just mild strains to serious and even potentially life-threatening neck fractures. The high velocity impact of a vehicle accident often causes your head to whip back and forth, and while you may not feel the effects of the whiplash right away you’ll often notice that your neck is sore and you’re having trouble moving it over the next few days. Getting whiplash therapy can help.

Head Injuries

Most drivers and passengers in an auto accident who suffer from head injuries suffer from the closed-head kind, meaning you won’t see the damage visibly on the outside. In mild forms these head injuries can be a minor concussion, but in serious forms they can involve traumatic brain injury. When the head whips back and forth it puts your brain at risk of jostling between the sides of the skull and could suffer from bruising or other damage. Be sure to get checked by a medical professional following any serious accident.

Back Injuries

Back injuries are also common for drivers as the force of impact places significant pressure and torque on the spine. These injuries might include:

• Back sprain
• Back strains
• Fractured spine or discs
• Disc injury
• Thoracic spine injury
• Lumbar spine injury

Similar to neck injuries, the initial shock of the accident may mask the pain in your back, but it’s a good idea to go to a hospital or doctor and get checked immediately for potential back problems after an accident. That way if you do suffer an injury you can trace it to the accident and potentially get the costs of treatment covered by your insurance.

If the injury is bothering you but doesn’t require hospitalization, talk to a chiropractor to find out if he or she can help you reduce the pain, eliminate stiffness and treat some of the symptoms of whiplash or other similar injuries, such as blurred vision, headaches, dizziness, and reduced range of motion.

Get the recovery that you might  be in need of. Contact Apollo Chiropractic and get more information about our services and treatments in Salt Lake City, Murray, Holladay or Midvale.